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Jack Dowding (1996-2016)

On Jan. 8th I heard of the death of a recent former pupil of mine from our school in Southampton, St. Mary’s College, where I taught for 4 years (2009-13): Jack Dowding. Jack had spent most of his life dealing with type 1 diabetes and it seems that complications related to this are what took him. Here’s what I posted on Facebook at the time, followed by some subsequent posts:

Jan. 8thTragic news today about the death of a former pupil of mine at St. Mary’s College, Southampton: Jack Dowding who passed away yesterday at the age of 20. Jack was one of life’s good guys, an effervescent little bundle of energy and enthusiasm whose infectious good humour always left you with a smile on your face.

(Southampton scored in the 20th minute against Liverpool in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final. Southampton went on to go through to the final 2-0 on aggregate.)

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Jan. 27th

I was at the funeral in Hedge End, Southampton yesterday of our former St. Mary's pupil, Jack Dowding, who had the 20th minute applause in his honour during the first leg... a very moving service, the coffin decked in Saints colours, and you can guess what one of the hymns was... #OHWHENTHESAINTS !!!!!!

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Very sad news... Tony Doyle (Old Xav. - former pupil of mine) has passed away suddenly. Please keep him and his family in your prayers and thoughts. We will pray in our community for Tony and all the family. My heart goes out to them all. I have very fond memories of teaching Tony: a lovely personality, always smiling and joking.